Lilium Regale

This lily is a species and is also known as the Regal lily. It was discovered by British botanist E. H. Wilson in Western China and introduced in England in 1903.

This lily have trumpet shaped flowers with sweet fragrance that is even stronger at night. It is white in color with yellow throat and pink reverse. The flowers measured 5 inches long.








This is the lily bulb that I have acquired from Lurvey's Garden. It is about 2.5 feet tall as it has already sprouted when I got it. Come next year it will reset its clock and it will attain its real height. My other Regal lilies that were planted in spring of last year had grown to about 4-5 feet tall and their buds are about the size of an almond.

Were They Eaten By Rabbits And Deers?

I never had a problem with rabbits and deers before. For the first time in my eight years of gardening,last Friday some of my plants have signs that something ate them. I checked for the last two days for more attack, but there was none.

Here are some of the plants:

Heuchera Palace Purple and two Cocktail Twins.


Night Flyer


and Karen North.


Three lilies of about a dozen that were cut down to about 2-3 feet(as seen on pic) and were randomly picked here and there around the garden. There is a wooded area about a mile from my house. So the possibility deers and rabbits ate them is high or maybe some kids in my neighborhood got in my garden.


My garden in the front yard where these things happened.

My Vegetable Garden

Here is my tiny veggie garden. Last year I grew lots of tomatoes and peppers and this year it will be different veggies.


It is my first time to try to grow these beans. I bought these on sale at HOBO.


These seed packets were bought by my father in law last year and were never planted. This year, I finally got them in the ground.


The beans grew nicely. Please excuse the bad pic.


Though a year old seeds, the lettuce still have good germination rate.


It is the same with the Swiss Chard and they grew beautifully.


Still part of the veggie garden is this patch of garlic and sedum groundcovers. I will be moving these sedums when it is time to harvest the garlic.


These are old potatoes that I saved in the basement since winter.


I planted this potato in a pot with amaryllis in it. When I tried to move it to the veggie bed, I was surprised to see some small potatoes already growing.

I also planted an eggplant and I am planning to add a few oriental veggies.

Garden Blooms

I finally had the time to do a post. I am so glad with this 3-day weekend. I hope I can catch up with all of the garden chores that need to be addressed. The horse manure that I picked up at Palatine Park District two weeks ago is still waiting to be put down in the garden beds. The black plastic edging that we installed needs to be filled in with dirt. I still have some weeding to do in the hosta beds. The wild violets are becoming invasive here in my garden. Yesterday, I sprayed some of the weeds with weedkiller along the sidewalk. That will at least save me some time. I am also working on our little veggie garden.

Sharing with you some of the flowers and plants that I have been enjoying in my garden.


Amaryllis Charisma


Reblooming for me this year is Amaryllis Roma.

Last year, I traded some of my lilies with these irises.

NOID #1


NOID #2


NOID #3


NOID #4


My first rose bloom. I use to have a dozen of rose bushes. But I have given them away because I needed the space for my lilies and hostas. I now have only two bushes left.


Last fall, I bought some mixed Dutch irises at Walmart. Out of 15, only 4 bloomed.


Polygonatum and its visitor.


Salvia May Night and Blue Hill


Hosta First Frost


Hosta Orange Marmalade


Hosta Whirlwind


I am so excited with this one. Crinum Carolina Beauty has sent up a scape! Maybe in a couple of days I will see the first blossom. I love crinums just as much as I love amaryllis.


Lilium Regale


Asiatic Lily Commander in Chief

A few more days and some of my lilies will be blooming. I will be posting pics when they do. Have a nice weekend everyone.

The Garden At My Local Library (Part 3)

Here are two more sculptures that are being displayed. All of the sculptures in the garden have been in our library since September. They still have one week left before they will be traveling to their next destination. If you are interested to see them or you want information about them, please call 630.238.0788.


"Awaiting the Arrival" by Leo Osborne


"The Reaper" by Tuck Langland


And if you would like to see live bands, here is the schedule of our "Music In The Park 2010".

The Garden At My Local Library (Part 2)

Here are some more photos taken from my local library's garden.


Hosta Sum and Substance


Iris and Baptisia


The busy "Pollinator".


"Dance Of Awakening Day" by Tuck Langland.


Another sculpture by Tuck Langland: "Resting Dancer"


The "Lotus Seeker" by Leo Osborne.


Kipling's "The Jungle Book" by Tuck Langland commemorates the 50th anniversary of our library last May 14, 2010.

The Garden At My Local Library (Part 1)

It was almost two months ago since I last visited my local library's garden. There was so much change now. From the just emerging plants and the bare grounds in betweens, comes the fully leaf-out plants and are in full bloom.

The arts that are featured in the garden are awesome. There were also fine specimens of hostas, ornamental grasses, flowering shrubs and perennials. The gravel paths are winding that leads to the 'Story Ring' tucked in one of the corners of the garden.


The "Alphabet Chair" is a fine bronze sculpture by Sarah Peters. Each letter has a textured pattern which are puzzles to contemplate.


A statue of Robert Burns, the great "peasant-poet" from Scotland.


A garden ornament nestled among the rose bushes.


A bench nicely placed in an area to sit, relax and enjoy what is blooming in the garden.


The 'Story Ring' is beautifully designed to accomodate kids for story reading.

What Is Going On?

It is the second week of May and I see a flower scape from my Hosta 'Lemon Lime'. It usually blooms in June and this hosta variety is known to rebloom. This is a mini hosta, about 6" tall with chartreuse leaves and purple flowers. It has produced numerous sports, one of them is 'Twist of Lime'.


After our unseasonable heatwave last month, my Oriental lily 'Mona Lisa' got confused. Oriental lilies bloom from July to August. The Asiatics bloom in June before the Orientals. This photo was taken a few days ago, now the buds are bigger. Even my Asiatics don't have buds as big as these.


Some of my hostas have grown big that my common Arisaema Triphyllum are not seen in my garden unless you part or lift a few hosta leaves.


Inspecting my lily leaves is like looking for hosta leaves if they show a sign of HVX (hosta virus x). Last fall, I bought some lily bulbs from Brent and Becky's Bulbs. Planted in this pot are Oriental lilies 'Garden Party'. They are short lily variety which are suitable for pot culture. One got the light green streaks in the leaves which I suspect is TVB (Tulip Breaking Virus).


Another lily with suspicious-looking leaves and growth is Oriental 'Dizzy'. The pic below is from last year. There are two 'Dizzies' in my garden, the 'Dizzy' on the left is the one affected.


Oriental lily 'Dizzy'


Here are the leaves of my Lilium Auratum. Notice the light green color in them.


Lilium Auratum pic taken last year.



My LO (Longiflorum-Oriental) Triumphator's top growth looked weird. I hope this is nothing serious as this is the lily that decided to poke thru the ground during winter time.


LO lily 'Triumphator'


Hundreds of baby spiders were hatched on top of my Sedum 'Kamtchasticum'.


An amaryllis currently blooming here. A 'Minerva' look-alike. The style is short which is exhibited in both flowers from this amaryllis.